Needs a title
by zlinka
Summary: Cant think of a title yet, but read it anyway. If you have some suggestions, they'd be appreciated. Akane goes back in time to the day that she meets Ranma. Ranma goes back in time to the day he meets Akane. Neither of them know this.
1. Chapter 1

This idea has been playing around in my head a lot. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading it as much, if not more, as I've enjoyed writing it.

Akane was woken up by her actual alarm clock, which confused her. She had been woken up by the sound of battle for the last two years. At first it had scared her, she had never heard anything like what those two were doing. Then she had gotten used to it. It had become a comfort to her almost. She hadn't realized how much she missed the sound until it had stopped about a week ago.

Aunt Nodoka had moved in after the wedding, saying that someone rational had to keep an eye on everyone. Since then Uncle Saotome and Ranma's morning training sessions were delayed until after breakfast. All fighting had stopped until after school, even though both she and Ranma continued doing morning exercises. It was the one time of day that they could get along really. No one really bothered them until they were on their way to school.

It was mornings like this though that made her panic. Even though intellectually she knew what was going on, and would most likely see him in the yard doing his morning stretches, she still worried that he would leave her. 'It doesn't matter if he does,' she reassured herself, 'After all the engagement was our parents idea.' She had been telling herself this for years, and even now it still sounded hollow.

She sat up stretching, and noticed that something was tickling the small of her back. 'Poor P-Chan,' she thought, 'I must have rolled over and squished him again.' When she turned to find her poor pet she saw nothing. P-Chan wasn't there, nor was there anything that could have tickled her back. She glared at the crumpled sheets and pillowcases before she got up and looked for something to wear. First, she looked for a clean warm-up outfit, set that on her bed, and dug through her closet for something to wear for the rest of the day. It was Sunday so there was no school.

She decided on a dress that ended just above her knees. In fact, it was the dress that she was wearing when she and Ranma became engaged for the first time. 'Of course the pervert was probably remembering what I looked like naked,' she practically growled at the memory of that day. It was a happy growl, but she would deny it if anyone even thought of accusing her of that.

After choosing her outfits, she started brushing her hair. That's when she knew for sure that something wasn't right. Her brush started at the top of her head and kept going past the three inches where it should have stopped. It kept going, and as she followed the path with her eyes. Hair that shouldn't be attached to her head was there. It was the dark midnight that the rest of her hair was, but it was just too long. 'I haven't had hair this long since it got cut off in that fight between Ranma and Ryouga,' she remembered. It had been one of the most horrible days of her life, because she had had to let go of one of her fondest dreams. It had also been one of the best days of her life, because she had gotten her first compliment from Ranma.

She rushed to the closest mirror, and felt tears prickle at her eyes at what she saw. It was back. Her hair was back! She finished brushing it, and looked for a ribbon. She wasn't expecting to find any because she had thrown them out after her hair had been cut, but she did. She found them right where she remembered storing them when she had them. This would have made her suspicious, but she was too happy to care. She rushed down the stairs and found her older sister Kasumi starting the preparations for breakfast.

"Kasumi!" she shouted in joy and hugged her sister. "Look at my hair!" She would have gone on about how great it was to have it back, but she was so overcome, that all she could think of doing was hug her sister tighter.

"Did you do something different with it Akane?" her sister asked, "Because it looks very nice this morning." It was like someone had splashed her with cold water.

"What are you talking about Kasumi?" Akane asked quietly, "It's back!"

"Oh?" Kasumi sounded distracted, as she returned to preparing breakfast. "Did it go somewhere?"

"Huh?" Akane knew that sometimes Kasumi didn't notice the obvious, but she was always good about noticing things that were important to other people. She wasn't sure what to say to her sister, so she walked away; very disappointed that something so important to her had gone unnoticed.

'Ranma will notice once I point it out to him,' she thought as she went out into the yard to start her morning exercise. There was no one there 'Must have already gone on his jog,' she thought, as she started doing her stretches. Once she was limber enough to start the jog, she was out the gate and on her way.

She took her time on her morning jog. Everything had seemed to be off this morning, until she started running. 'This feels right,' she thought idly as she lost herself in the movement of her body. It ended too soon though, but she was happy again. She was going to enjoy the fact that her hair was back, and if no one said anything about it, she'd just chock it up to the oddness of living in Nerima.

A quick change from her jogging clothes into her gi, and she started stacking cinder blocks. She breathed in deeply, to center herself, and with one swift punch, every single one of them broke.

"Ahh," she said to herself, "that was nice." She knew it was weird, and probably not the best habit to get herself into, but she just enjoyed the feeling of controlling her destructive power. She knew she had the power to destroy buildings if she really wanted to, but being able to release it in small doses was fun.

"There you go again Akane," Nabiki said from somewhere behind her. "No wonder the boys all think you're weird." It was an argument that they had had before, and Akane wasn't in the mood for it. She hadn't seen Ranma all morning and it was beginning to worry her.

"So why should I care?" she shot back with a barely concealed glare, "Not everybody thinks the world revolves around **boys** Nabiki." Something about today was beginning to nag at the back of her mind. 'It's probably just a sense of déjà vu,' she assured herself.

"No?" Nabiki said slyly, Akane knew that tone of voice, and like a lemming allowed it to lead her wherever it wanted. "Then I guess this wouldn't interest you." Akane followed her to where her father and Kasumi were sitting with glasses of ice tea for everyone. Nabiki sat down and Akane followed suit.

'I've done this before,' she thought with growing certainty. The look in her father's eyes confirmed it. "I've just gotten a letter confirming that your fiancé has arrived."

"Fiancé!" Akane shouted out of reflex. 'He's trying to do this to us **again**? Isn't it bad enough that he engaged me to Ranma, but now he's going to do it to Kasumi or Nabiki!'

"Yes. The son of a very good friend of mine," Father explained, "The son's name is Ranma Saotome…" Akane's mind went blank, and she felt the world go black.

She woke up shortly after she had heard Ranma's name. Kasumi's concerned face was hovering over hers. "She's awake," Kasumi called to someone who wasn't in her line of sight. Father's face appeared above hers, tears streaming down his face.

"My poor baby girl!" he shouted, "You're okay!"

"W-what happened?" Akane asked shakily as she started to get up.

"Daddy announced that one of us was getting engaged and you fainted," Nabiki said from the table. She seemed unconcerned about her sister's condition, but she never looked concerned about anything, so Akane wasn't too upset.

"Oh," Akane said smartly. 'What do I do?' she started panicking. 'What am I doing two years in the past?' This thought struck her as funny, but she stopped herself from laughing aloud, otherwise they would think she was going crazy. 'Now, what did I say after hearing about the engagement?'

"That's right!" she shouted, "Don't we have some say in who we marry?"

"Akane's right daddy," Kasumi said backing her up, "We've never even met Ranma."

"That's easily fixed," Father said. He started explaining about how Mr. Saotome and Ranma were returning from a ten-year training trip. Akane kind of tuned this out because she had heard it before. 'How am I going to deal with meeting Ranma again, and being the only one who remembers that we've met already?' This thought made her head hurt a little, so she stopped thinking it. She tuned back in when she heard the familiar sounds of Ranma and Mr. Saotome fighting.

Nabiki and Father ran towards the front door. Kasumi followed at a more sedate pace, and Akane trailed after her, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Father and Nabiki came running back at them, full speed. Following them was Mr. Saotome in his panda for. Akane knew that over his shoulder was Ranma, but only because she had been through this before.

"Hey? Yo!" Ranma's voice came from above her father's shoulder, "you're scaring 'em spit less!" Akane felt a happy tingle run up her spine as she heard her fiancé's voice for the first time. 'No, he's not my fiancé yet,' she thought. This saddened her, but she reassured herself that he would be again soon.

In the background she heard Kasumi and Nabiki talking, "Daddy… Is this your friend?" Akane assumed that her father was shaking his head because she heard Nabiki shout, "Oh, so this **panda** decided to visit! Happens all the time!" Akane couldn't take her eyes off of Ranma. 'She looks so cute,' she thought as Ranma was placed in front of Father.

"You… wouldn't be…" Father started.

"Ranma Saotome," she answered, fiddling with her braid, "Sorry 'bout this." Akane slid her eyes up and down Ranma's body, and wondered why no one had noticed that she was female.

"At last!" Father shouted, "You've come!"

"Oooo! He's cute," gushed Nabiki, and Akane barely repressed the urge to glare at her sister. A primal part of her, the same part that had been howling when Nabiki and Ranma were engaged, growled threateningly, 'Mine.'

"It's so good of you to come so…" Father was shouting as he embraced Ranma. Akane cringed when her father froze. He pulled away from Ranma, who was pouting cutely, and stared in shock. Kasumi and Nabiki were also silent as they studied Ranma closely.

Nabiki walked up to Ranma, and before Akane could stop her, started poking at Ranma's breast. "Hmmm," she said, as she started poking harder.

"Um, could you stop that?" Ranma muttered.

" "He" is a girl," Nabiki said, pointing out the obvious. Father hit the ground really hard. Akane and Kasumi picked Father up with a practiced ease, and everyone moved into the living room, where Nabiki started moving furniture and setting up the emergency futon. The one they used when Father fainted while they had guests.

"Oh poor Daddy," the ever-kind Kasumi said as she dampened a cloth for him. "He's so disappointed."

"**He's** disappointed," spat Nabiki, "Some fiancé this is!"

Akane felt her protective instincts kick in, "Stop it you two!" she scolded, "He…" 'Wait, I'm not supposed to know that she is actually a boy yet!' "**She**… is out guest!"

"This is all your fault Daddy!" Nabiki shouted, ignoring Akane's scolding, "You should have made **sure**!"

"Well he said he had a son!" Protested Daddy rudely.

"Do you see a son here? Hmmm? Do you?" Demanded Nabiki as she squeezed one of Ranma's breasts in what looked like a painful manner.

"Ummm…" Ranma started, "I really wish you would stop that." Akane could tell that Ranma was getting angry and embarrassed.

She stood up suddenly and leaned over Ranma. She could feel the opening of her gi loosening around her throat, but she knew that she wasn't showing him anything, so she wasn't too embarrassed. "Hey, join me in the practice hall?" she invited. 'This feels right. Go with it,' she told herself as she continued, "I'm Akane, you want to be friends?"

Ranma smiled at her in a shy, endearingly cute smile, and Akane beamed back. 'Where did we go wrong?' Akane asked herself, 'We started out great, but somewhere it all fell apart.' As she led Ranma to the dojo, she tried to pinpoint why they had been in such a stalemate for such a long time.

She showed Ranma where he could find some practice weapons, practice mats, the work out towels, and her stash of cinder blocks. When she finished with the tour, Akane was trying to decide what to do next.

"You do martial arts don't you?" Ranma asked her, 'Wait, that's not how it's supposed to go,' Akane thought as she stared at Ranma.

"A little," she said carefully, "Why, do you want to have a little match?" Ranma hesitated, 'That's more like it.' "Just for fun," assured Akane. She didn't add that she wouldn't hurt Ranma this time. That had been just plain arrogant. 'But I'm going to win this time,' she thought as Ranma agreed to the match.

As they got into their positions, Akane took a deep cleansing breath. Over the years she had learned that she needed to stay cool in order to hit Ranma. Unfortunately, that didn't happen too often, because he could be really annoying, but if she remembered correctly, he didn't talk during the match. 'Just dodged,' she spat mentally.

Akane charged, fists flying strait and true towards Ranma's head. She just jumped daintily out of the way. The kick Akane sent her way was likewise dodged, but Akane could tell that she was getting closer. Two more dodges and Akane could feel herself getting frustrated.

"What's wrong?" she demanded, "You can swing at me. I won't break." She knew it wouldn't change anything, because Ranma doesn't hit girls, but she thought she would open up that invitation. She readied another punch, and sent it flying. Ranma slowly dodged, and Akane got herself ready for her last attack, only to find that Ranma had gotten a hold of her wrist, and twisted it around in such a way that she felt her arm go behind her, and her back hit his chest.

Akane stood there panting, stunned that things had gone differently then she remembered. Then she decided that she should do something about it, and twisted, so that she was facing her, her grip on her wrist loosened slightly so that Akane could actually do it without hurting herself.

She looked into Ranma's eyes, and debated continuing. She could do something about it, but she didn't want to let her competitive nature take hold of her. Akane recognized that Ranma was allowing her to continue moving, but even if he wasn't she could have continued. It just would have hurt more.

She started chuckling quietly. 'I think I like this Ranma better already,' she thought. Losing the way she had last time had really hurt her pride. Ranma started joining her in the laughter.

Once it petered out Akane started talking again, "Ahem," she said clearing her throat, "You're… pretty good," she conceded. There was a gaping silence as she waited for Ranma to respond. "How'd you get so fast?" she asked finally, to break the silence.

Ranma seemed a little taken aback by the question, "Uh, well Pops normally has me fight with my pack on," she explained. "I guess it's pretty heavy."

"That's right," Akane said, grasping onto the new conversational straw, "You've been on a really long training trip. That must have been really fun."

"It was okay I guess," she shrugged. 'Ranma didn't really like talking about his trip,' thought Akane.

"Well you'll have to tell me more about it later," she offered as she started leaving. "Make yourself at home."

Akane started doing some cool down katas, in an attempt to allow Ranma a chance to take his bath before she took hers. When she thought she had allowed him enough time she went back into the house. She was moving through the house on the way to her room when Nabiki's head popped out from around a corner.

"Akane!" she called, "Bath's ready!"

"Thanks," Akane said. 'Maybe this time Ranma and I can be friends,' she thought idly as she brushed her fingers through her new, lush locks. She hummed happily as she gathered her bathing supplies and practically skipped to the bathroom.

She listened at the door, triple checking that Ranma was finished. When she heard nothing she removed her clothes, putting them in the clothing hamper, and opened the door to the bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

Ranma woke up suddenly. He normally woke up this way, but he had gotten used to not having to wake up because a bucket of cold water in the past week or so. He felt the change immediately, a feeling that he had gotten to recognize only through lots of practice.

Instantly she jumped to her feet and faced her father, "What did you do that for?" she demanded angrily. There stood a panda, holding a bucket, out in the middle of the woods.

'Wait, woods?' Ranma questioned. She didn't have time to get much further then that though, because Pops came barreling at her at full speed, swinging a sign at her with a viciousness that made Ranma almost unable to read it.

You're getting soft! it accused. Ranma ignored this, because it was something that her father always told her.

"Ha! You wish old man!" Ranma taunted, "'Cause then you'd actually have a chance of winning." Pops came charging at her, and Ranma lost herself in the heat of battle. 'Man, I've missed this,' she thought. 'It's nice not having it happen everyday, but when it doesn't happen you get to missing it.'

They stopped momentarily to break camp and have breakfast, then resumed their fight as they traveled. At lunch they took a breather, and Ranma began noticing things around them. 'We've been here before,' she thought vaguely, having found some warm water before going into the restaurant. This didn't happen often because they were rarely a welcome sight in the places that they'd been before.

The waitress who took their orders didn't seem to recognize them, even though Ranma recognized her. She was one of Akane's friends, and always smiled at him and giggled when she saw Ranma, as if she knew a secret or something. 'Man this chick's annoying,' he thought as he started eating his rice. 'Probably some trick to get me in trouble with Akane.'

"Ranma my boy," Pops began, having turned back to a human before they went into the restaurant. "We're going to be settling down soon. My friend is expecting us."

"Huh?" Ranma said smartly, rice paused halfway to his mouth. "What are you talkin' 'bout Pops?" He was honestly confused. Pops had told him that they would be settling down with the Tendos almost two years ago, and now he was changing his mind.

"My friend Soun Tendo is expecting us," 'Duh,' Ranma thought. "We've arranged for you to marry one of his daughters."

'Wait, what?' Ranma thought. 'I'm already engaged to Akane. In fact, she's probably pissed at me for not being there for out morning run.' "What?" He said intelligently.

"When you were born, Tendo and I arranged that you would marry one of his daughters and unite the schools," Pops was striking what he thought was a noble pose.

"I already know that Pops," Ranma interrupted. "You told me that like two years ago."

"I did?" Pops said, "I don't remember this conversation."

Ranma just nodded and continued eating his lunch. 'Why's Pops actin' so weird?' Ranma asked himself. Akane's friend came back with the check, and left. Pops took one look at it, and excused himself to go to the bathroom, taking his pack with him. 'Pops hasn't done that since we moved in with the Tendo's,'

Ranma was beginning to be suspicious. First, Pops was ignoring Mom's rule about not starting a fight before breakfast. Second that friend of Akane's was actin' she'd never seen him before. Third, Pops was behavin' like he did before they moved in. 'What if Pops decided to run?!?'

Ranma went from suspicious to angry. He quickly paid for the bill, then ran after Pops, pack in hand. 'How the hell did he pack everything up and sneak me out of the house without me wakin' up?' he questioned idly, and discarded the thought just as quickly, because he was really ticked off.

"You've done some pretty shitty things!" he shouted at his father, prepared to fight his way back home, "But this takes the cake!"

"Boy, have I not trained you to give your life for the sake of your training?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"Son," Genma stopped shouting and tried to sound reasonable, "This was an arrangement made between myself and Soun when you were born. It's imperative that you marry one of his daughters so that the schools can be joined."

"I know that Pops!" Ranma shouted in frustration. "That's why you engaged me to Akane!"

"Who?" Pops shouted back.

Ranma froze, and he felt a jolt of energy shoot down his spine. It was a familiar feeling that had helped him through the years in his career as a martial artist. He looked around for immediate dangers, and found none. Then his brain went into overdrive, people were acting like they'd never met him. 'And lets face it, everybody knew him. Pops was actin' like they didn't have a home, or Mom waiting there, knowing when they get into trouble. Pops don't know who Akane is!'

An odd thought came to him, 'What am I doing two years in the past?' He didn't faint, but he was close, and in that second of weakness, his father snuck up behind him and everything went black.

Ranma woke up upside down, with water trickling down her nostrils. It was raining. She started choking, and sputtering. In her high-pitched voice she started demanding that her father let her go, so that she wouldn't choke to death. Her father, who was currently a panda ignored her and went inside a building.

"Leggo y'ol' fool!" She shouted, but nothing happened. 'Wow, Pops really doesn't trust me to go through with this,' she thought. Ranma could hear two sets of feet running up behind him.

"Ooo," Nabiki's voice could be heard from the distance, "It must be Ranma!"

"Saotome, my friend. We've been waiting!" Mr. Tendo shouted in greeting. There was a silence, in which they obviously got a good look of Pops. Then there was the sound of feet hastily going in the opposite direction. Pops, being the genius that he his, ran after them.

When Pops stopped, Ranma started talking, "Hey yo!" he shouted to get Pop's attention, "You're scaring 'em spit less!"

"Daddy… This is your friend?" he could hear Kasumi ask. There was a silence, then Nabiki shouted, "Oh, so this **panda** just decided to visit! Happens all the **time**!"

At this, Pops picked Ranma up off his shoulder and placed him roughly in front of Mr. Tendo. Ranma looked up at him, and wondered how he was missing the fact that she was female.

"You… wouldn't be…" Mr. Tendo stuttered.

"Ranma Saotome," she muttered, playing with her braid and looking away. He caught sight of Akane then. 'That's right. Her hair used to be long,' he thought. 'That was my fault.' "Sorry 'bout this."

Mr. Tendo grabbed her by the shoulders and shouted at him, "At last! You've come!" Ranma couldn't help the look that crossed her face. 'How can this man be so blind?' she asked as he shifted her breasts higher.

"Oooo! He's cute!" she heard Nabiki say, and Ranma just felt numb. A tiny voice in the back of her head sniggered, 'Lesbian,' again. The last time this had happened to her, she had had the same thought.

Mr. Tendo was babbling on about how good it was that she had come, and Ranma kind of drifted off. She'd been through this before, and remembered faintly that she had done the same thing last time too. She'd kind of been numb to what was going on until…

"Hmmm…" Nabiki's hum brought her out of her stupor as she felt her breast being poked multiple times. It was very annoying.

"Um," Ranma started, trying to keep calm, "could you stop that?"

" "He" is a girl," Nabiki said, stating what Ranma had felt was the obvious for quite some time. 'Seriously,' she thought, 'I'm stacked. You'd have to be blind not to notice that I'm a chick.' He heard Mr. Tendo hit the floor, and watched with mild interest as Akane and Kasumi picked him up and took him to the living room, where they set up a futon for him to lay on.

"Oh, poor Daddy. He's so disappointed," Kasumi said in sympathy. She was wetting a cloth for Mr. Tendo's forehead.

"**He's **disappointed. Some fiancé **this** is!" Nabiki spat. Ranma felt her eyebrow twitch at this.

"Stop it you two!" Akane said. 'Good old Akane,' Ranma thought with an internal grin, 'Always there to defend me unless she's mad at me.' "He…**She** is out guest!"

"This is all your fault Daddy," Nabiki whined, and once again Ranma wondered how this girl had managed to get so much money out of him. "You should have made sure!"

"Well, he said he had a **son**," Mr. Tendo tried to defend himself.

"Do you **see** a son here?" Nabiki demanded while grabbing painfully onto Ranma's breast. "Hmmm. Do you?"

"Um, I really wish you would stop that," Ranma said. If it didn't stop soon she might just forget about her rule about hitting girls and give her a titty twister.

"Hey. Join me in the practice hall?" Akane offered, standing over her shoulder and bending at the waist. Her face was right in hers, and Ranma could feel the tiniest bit of a grin appear on her face. "I'm Akane. You want to be friends?" The offer was just like she remembered it, and Ranma was hopeful that they might get a second chance to start off right. 'Where'd we mess up anyway?' she asked herself, 'We started off great.'

Akane showed her where she could find the practice equipment, and where she stashed her cinderblocks, something that she hadn't done last time. The tour was winding down, and it looked like Akane was going to leave her alone to explore by herself. 'It's too soon,' Ranma thought, knowing how rare moments that they get along are. 'Do something, say something!'

"You do martial arts don't you?" She asked, and wished she hadn't almost immediately. 'What was I thinking?' she thought in a panic.

"A little," Akane said cautiously. "Why, do you want to have a little match?" Ranma wasn't sure what to say. 'Dug myself in too deep.' "Just for fun." Ranma noticed that she didn't assure her that she wouldn't get hurt, which made her glad. That last bit had really gotten her goat.

Ranma nodded slowly, and watched as Akane tried to center herself. Something that she rarely did. Ranma easily dodged the first attack, and the second. She was getting closer, but she was also getting more frustrated. 'How do I end this without bugging her?' she asked herself as she dodged a few more attacks.

"What's wrong?" Akane demanded. "You can swing at me. I wont break." 'Yeah right,' Ranma thought, then she got a genius idea. 'I won't be hittin' her, and I'll still win!' When Akane swung her final punch, Ranma dodged, then caught her wrist and twisted it up behind Akane's back. This brought them uncomfortably close. 'Last time we were like this was jusenkyo,' she felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought.

She felt Akane pause, and could tell that she was assessing what she could do next. There were several moves Akane could have done, but most of them would end up hurting her more then they would hurt Ranma.

Akane turned in her grasp, and instinctively Ranma loosened her grip. Akane seemed to notice this, and started chuckling. Ranma, not sure why Akane was laughing, joined in nervously.

"Ahem," Akane started some of the laughter died down. "You're… pretty good." Ranma wasn't sure where this was going, so she stayed silent. "How'd you get so fast?"

'Did Akane just ask a personal question without having something weird happen?' she asked herself. "Uh, Pops normally has me fight with my pack on," she explained. "I guess it's pretty heavy." Ranma was nervous now. 'This isn't how I remember it going.'

"That's right," Akane said, seeming relieved for some reason. "You've been on a really long training trip. That must have been really fun."

'I don't want to talk about that,' "It was okay I guess," she shrugged. 'Yeah, let me count the ways we aren't going there.'

"Well you'll have to tell me more about it later," Akane offered as she made her way towards the exit. "Make yourself at home." With those words, Akane was gone, and Ranma really wasn't sure what to do now.

Ranma decided that she should explore the Tendo's home again, before there were so many holes in the wall that the stately manor started looking like swiss cheese. She looked around the house, a million memories of things yet to come flooding her mind. 'This is too weird,' she thought, and decided to sit on the porch. She felt Kasumi approach from behind.

"Wouldn't you like to take a bath?" she offered, holding a towel out for her.

"Huh? No!" Ranma said, remembering what happened last time. 'Wait, too strong.' "I mean… it's okay."

"No it's not!" Kasumi insisted, and Ranma felt herself giving in to what she wanted, "You must be all sweaty from your work out!" She gave Ranma the towel, and showed her where the bathroom was.

With dread, Ranma started the bathing process. 'Everythin' was goin' so well, and 'cause I can't say no to a chick, it's all goin' to happen again,' she thought grumpily. She cleaned herself up, and considered leaving it at that, but knew that she couldn't stay a chick for too long. She got into the bath, and felt the change come over him.

'What to do? What to do?' he thought. As he felt the heat relax his tired muscles. 'Maybe I should hurry up and leave the bath before she gets here?' he thought, and was struck by the simplicity of the idea.

He pushed himself out of the water, and stepped over the rim just as the door opened. For the second time in his life, he froze as he door revealed a naked Akane. 'Damn.'


	3. Chapter 3

Hi! Sorry it took me so long to update, you can kind of expect that with this story. Umm... just to let everyone know I'm basing this and all my Ranma 1/2 fics off of the manga and not the television show. It hasn't affected the story yet, but it will, so sorry all you Sasuke fans out there, he doesn't exist in this world.

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Akane stared at the very naked, very wet, very male Ranma kneeling on the floor. She felt the familiar combination of admiration for the rare sight of a lone nude Ranma and rage. 'I give him plenty of time to get out of the bath before I arrive, and he sits around waiting for me,' she thought venomously.

"You pervert!" she shouted at him, quickly covering herself with her towel. She took a little pleasure at the sight of his eyes widening and the way his muscles moved while he scrambled for something to cover himself with. 'There's nothing quite like a confused and naked Ranma to warm a girl up in all the right places. Probably why the bathroom is Shampoo's favorite place to stage an ambush,' she thought, darkly amused but still pissed off.

"Akane!" he shouted, it almost sounded like he hadn't been expecting her, but she knew better. "Wh-what are you doing here?" He finally found his towel and wrapped it around his hips. Akane was torn between disappointment and anger. She decided that anger was probably her safest option, 'Because if Ranma ever found out…'

Akane really wanted to slap him, but that would mean walking the five or so feet between them, and she only walked up to slap Ranma when he was being an insensitive jerk, not just a pervert. Instead she glared at him a few seconds longer, then spun around and slammed the bathroom door shut.

She seethed outside the bathroom door for a second before she put her gi top on. She jerked the belt tight and stomped out of the bathroom. Growling softly under her breath she made her way to the garden and picked up the closest statue to the door.

"Akane," Nabiki asked coolly, "What is it? What's that for?"

"There's a pervert in the bathroom," growled Akane, glaring at her sister as if Ranma changing genders was all her fault.

"Why don't you just kill him with your bare hands?" Nabiki asked curiously.

"B-because," Akane spluttered, loosing a little bit of her anger in the face of her sister's calmness.

"That's odd," Kasumi said quietly, sounding worried. "Ranma' was in the bath just now."

Akane held onto the statue as she felt both of her sister's attention turn to the hallway. "Who… Who…" she heard Kasumi stutter.

"Who are you?" Nabiki demanded, sounding in aw of the fact that someone could get into the house without her noticing.

"I'm Ranma Saotome," the now clothed male Ranma said, looking at the floor in front of his feet. His face was a charming color of pink, that Akane decided she kind of liked, but only when she was the cause. "Sorry 'bout this."

Akane carefully put the statue back where it belonged, before she went to her room to change into a nightgown. Mentally Akane reminded herself not to flatten him with a table this time, she had strained her thumb when she did it last time, and it had thrown her off her fight the next day.

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Ranma knelt next to his father, across from the Tendo girls. He was still embarrassed about what had happened earlier, but he wasn't going to let the image of Akane's nudity distract him from telling his story. 'Yeah, my female body's better, but it's kind of hard to be turned on by your own body. Only idiots like Kuno do that,' he thought as he watched Akane's reaction.

'I'll explain it once more," Mr Tendo started. "This is my old friend…"

"Genma Saotome," Pops introduced himself. "And this is my son…"

"Ranma," Ranma said, trying very hard not to stare at Akane, even though he could feel her staring at him. She was looking at him seriously, the same way she looked at him when she suspected him of something, but didn't have any proof that there was anything to be suspicious of. 'Not that that ever stops her from jumping to conclusions anyway.'

He really wasn't paying attention to what was going on. He vaguely heard Nabiki and Kasumi talking, but he was too busy ignoring the fact that even though Akane's night gown was modestly cut, he could still see quite a bit of her leg because of the way she was clutching at it.

"Hyah!" was the last thing Ranma registered before he felt himself being thrown into the koi pond.

"Hey!" he protested uselessly right before he hit the water with a resounding splash. He barely managed not to hit his head at the bottom with the force that Pops threw him. When she surfaced she blustered out, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Now he's a girl!" she heard Kasumi say quietly.

While her father was weeping at the humiliation of having a girl for a son Ranma snuck up behind him and kicked him into the koi pond as well. "Who are you to talk?!" Ranma demanded as a wet annoyed panda bear loomed out of the water.

"Daddy?" Ranma heard Kasumi whisper quietly, "Why are you friends with them?" 'I've always wondered that,' Ranma thought idly as she glared at the panda.

"They weren't like this before!" Mr Tendo said softly, but dramatically, "Not before they went to China… and undertook that terrifying training exercise!" Ranma expected to here thunder rumble at the tone of voice that Mr. Tendo used. 'So that's where Akane gets her ability to turn every little thing into a drama,' she thought as she showed Pops where the bathroom was.

Ranma was very careful to keep his head from getting wet this time around when he was changing gender. He was pretty sure that was the main thing that contributed to his cold last time. That and probably all the temperature changes he was going to undergo throughout the evening.

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While Ranma and his father were changing forms, Akane sat with her family in silence. If Kasumi hadn't been there, there would be talk, but Kasumi never liked talking about people behind their back, so any discussion of the Saotomes was out. Unfortunately Ranma was the only subject Akane had on her mind.

'Why are so many things different from how I remember them?' she questioned. The things Nabiki and Kasumi were doing seemed on par with how she remembered the evening, but anytime she was alone with Ranma, everything changed.

She stared deep into the tea cup that she clutched in her hands. Akane knew that she had changed some of her actions, which in turn would change some of Ranma's actions, but some things Ranma had instigated, like it was him that brought up martial arts this time.

'Ranma was probably just lonely for company,' Akane thought, as she took a sip of tea. By the time she had swallowed her sip the Saotomes had returned.

"Ah yes," Mr. Saotome started, as though the trip to the bathing room had only taken one panel instead of several minutes. "It was two fateful weeks ago..."

Akane watched in fascination as the flashback took place. In her minds eye she saw Ranma in his old training gi, with his hair in a ponytail instead of a braid standing next to his father, who looked the same way then that he did now.

"Are you prepared Ranma?" Mr. Saotome asked gravely.

""This place isn't so impressive," Ranma sneered. The guide began explaining about the dangers of the spring, but before he could finish warning them, Mr. Saotome sprang onto the nearest pole.

"Ranma, follow me!" Mr. Saotome shouted, and like an idiot Ranma did. They each landed gracefully one a pole and assumed a fighting position.

"I won't go easy on you!" Mr. Saotome warned.

"That's how I want it," Ranma smirked, then they flew at each other. Mr. Saotome gave out a battle cry as he kicked at Ranma. Ranma of course dodged the blow, causing Mr. Saotome to plunge into the spring of drowned panda. Ranma stood on his pole and taunted his father, until a panda came jumping out of the water at him.

"Wha...? Wha...? Wha...?" Ranma questioned intelligently.

"That is "Spring of Drowned Panda"!" the guide informed him. "There is tragic legend, very tragic legend of panda who drown two thousand years ago! Now whoever fall in that spring take body of panda!"

Upon hearing this Ranma tried protesting that the situation was too much for him, but Mr. Saotome didn't listen. Ranma ended up falling into the spring of drowned girl. When she surfaced, she ripped open the top of her gi and stared at her newly developed breasts.

"...You see what I mean?" were the last words Akane heard before the flashback ended. Soon everyone was sitting in her family's living room again. It was so silent that the could hear the faint tinkle of the wind chime outside.

"The legendary ground of accursed springs," Father said melodramatically. "Its true horror has always been shrouded in mystery, but now..."

"Feh," Ranma said angrily, remembering that day in Jusenkyo was a sure fire way to tick Ranma off. "Whaddya mean "true horror"? Old Man," Ranma said turning to his father, "what's the big idea dragging me off to a place like that anyway?"

Predictably, if you had been around them for any length of time anyway, Mr. Saotome threw Ranma into the koi pond and shouted, "You sound like a woman! Were you not prepared to give your life for the sake of your training?"

"My life yes," Ranma muttered, he leaped out of the koi pond and splashed his father with a bucket of water that he had gotten somewhere, "My manhood is another story!" It was at this point that Akane tuned them out. This argument had taken place so often that she had it memorized by now, and she really didn't feel like hearing it again.

"Stop it," Kasumi ordered quietly, then grabbed onto Mr. Saotome's giant panda arm. "You just went **too far** Mr. Saotome!"

"Yeah! Even for martial arts training!" Nabiki agreed. It was always fun to watch Nabiki and Kasumi tag team someone for information. Kasumi played the good cop and Nabiki played the bad cop and that person was telling them their entire life story before they even knew that they had been played.

"What**ever** made you do something so dangerous?" Kasumi demanded. 'Looks like she playing the bad cop today,' Akane thought idly.

Mr. Saotome placed a beat up paper back book on the floor. Kasumi picked it up and looked at it. "It's a Chinese map and guide book?" she questioned.

"Something about..."training grounds," Nabiki read.

"You can't read Chinese can you?" Kasumi demanded. Mr. Saotome opened a celebratory ball and confetti fell out. Ranma punched him on the back of his head.

This whole time Father had been out of the room. Shortly after Ranma hit her father, Father appeared with a giant kettle and poured what looked to be very hot water. "So," Father said, "When doused with hot water, you return to your human form."

'Didn't they just explain that?' Akane questioned in her head.

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Ranma watched with trepidation as Mr. Tendo approached Pops with a giant kettle. She knew that the water would me much hotter then it had to be, mostly because it almost always was. 'In fact, I really don't know how hot the water has to be before it can change me back,' Ranma thought idly as she watched Pops get scalded by the hot water.

"So, when doused with hot water, you return to your human form," Mr. Tendo stated.

"Well, it needn't be quite so hot," Pops said with a barely concealed whimper of pain.

Mr. Tendo approached Ranma, "When doused with cold water you become a girl," he stated, as though he hadn't seen that happen twice already. "But hot water turns you back into a boy!" he shouted, trying to pour the boiling water onto Ranma.

"Hot water!" Ranma shouted as she flinched out of the way. "Not boiling!"

Suddenly the kettle was gone and Mr. Tendo was patting her shoulder in a comradely fashion. Ranma knew what to expect now, but wasn't sure what to do about it. 'I have the feeling that this is where everything goes wrong,' she thought to herself as she watched Mr. Tendo suspiciously.

"No sweat. Your problem isn't so terrible after all," Mr. Tendo said, turning Ranma to face the girls.

"My daughter Kasumi, nineteen, and Nabiki, seventeen, and Akane, sixteen," each girl looked surprised at the introduction, except for really Akane, whose expression Ranma couldn't read. "Pick the one you want, she's your fiancé."

"Oh, he wants Akane," Kasumi said, pushing Akane forward.

"Oh definitely," Nabiki agreed.

"H-Hey!" Akane argued feebly. "Why...?"

Before anymore of Akane's question was asked, Nabiki interrupted. "Well, you hate boys, don't you?"

"So you're in luck, he's half girl," Kasumi said cheerfully. 'Great,' Ranma thought, 'Rub it in.'

"But, he's a pervert," Akane protested weekly.

'I am not!' "Waddya mean pervert?" Ranma demanded.

"You looked at my body!"

"Hold it! You walked in on me!"

"It's different when a girl sees a boy!"

Ranma heard their parents laughing, and wanted to avoid the next bit. 'No way am I getting' hit with a table again.'

"They're already a perfect couple," Mr. Tendo laughed. Pops joined him, which really annoyed Ranma.

Ranma glared at the two, and noticed the Akane joined him in glaring. The force of their stare got their parents to stop laughing and Mr. Tendo's hair to stand on end. Ranma caught Akane's eye, and for a second they smiled. Unfortunately they caught their parent's gleeful expression and turned away from each other in a huff.

'We definitely can't let our pops know that we like each other. We'd get married before anything interesting happened. Although it would solve a lot of problems...' he thought as he looked for the kettle of hot water Mr. Tendo was holding.

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Akane took her bath, she was still a little sweaty from her sparring match with Ranma. She felt mixed emotions about what had been happened this night. Last time she remembered being very angry, and having a sore thumb due to the table event. This time she was excited that Ranma took her seriously during a sparring match, angry because he still saw her naked, proud that she was doing a much better job at keeping her cool. Of course most of all she was confused, because so many things had changed, even more then she had control over.

Akane took the quiet opportunity the bath provided to wonder what it was that had made her go back in time. The last thing she remembered was going to sleep about a week after the wedding. None of the fiancées showed their face, except for Ukyo, who was in Akane and Ranma's class. Ukyo gave them their space.

The more Akane thought on the matter, the more she realized that there was a fuzzy spot in her memory. Most of her brain told her that she had gone to sleep the night before, and just woke up this way. Another, smaller, pat of the brain told her that there was more too it then that, but every time she tried to remember what it was, she found herself thinking about something else.

'Must not be that important,' she thought as she dried herself off with a towel. Then she wrapped her hair in a towel, and opened the door. Too late she realized that she had seen Ranma naked twice this night. Once as a boy and once as a girl.

Akane braced herself to be angry, but was a little disappointed when there was no sign of Ranma. She quickly dressed in her pajamas, and made her way to her bedroom. On the way she saw Ranma, leaning against the door frame of his and his father's room,as a boy.

"Good night Akane," he said, smiling smugly.

"Night Ranma," Akane said suspiciously, then she smiled at him and went to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

Ranma sat on the floor of his and Pops' bedroom, trying to hide his excitement about what he just heard. Pops had just told him that he would be going to school, starting today.

"School?" he asked, hopefully sounding as confused and uninterested as he had the first time that he had been told about school. In truth, even though he wasn't looking forward to sitting through the lessons a second time around, he was looking forward to the training that school would give him. Between the two Kuno's and Hinako sensei, he would become stronger then ever.

"Well, we are going to be staying a while," Pops explained reasonably.

"It's the same school me and Akane go to," Nabiki said as she passed the doorway to their room. She was in her uniform with her back pack slung over her shoulder. "We'll see you there."

Akane ran up behind Nabiki, clutching her backpack. She skidded to a halt when she arrived at the doorway.

"Hurry up," she ordered smiling, "I don't want to be late."

"Uh, give me a minute," he said, shutting the door and changing from his sleeping clothes into a sleeveless Chinese shirt and black slacks. He glanced over at Pops, who was looking at him quizzically.

"You seem rather eager to get to school," Pops said casually.

Ranma shrugged, "Whatever." Then opened the door and followed Akane to the front door.

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Akane glanced at Ranma, who was walking beside her even though there were chain linked fences that he could be walking along. Up until the failed wedding, Ranma had always walked along fences wherever he went. 'I wonder if this means that he likes me better this time around, because I definitely like him better.' There was also a nagging voice in the back of her head telling her that she was forgetting something.

'Probably the homework that's due today,' she thought, shaking her head slightly, 'I don't even know if I finished it or not.' They passed the house with the little old lady who always splashed Ranma while watering her garden. Akane heard Ranma sigh as she started to ring her shirt out.

"Common Ranma," Akane said, "We'll stop at Dr. Tofu's."

"Sure thing Akane," Ranma replied cheerfully as she walked with Akane down the streets. Akane found it a little weird that it seemed that Ranma knew where she was going even though this was the first time she'd ever been in Nerima.

When they reached the doctor's office, Akane turned to Ranma, "Wait here. I'll be right out with your water." She turned away before Ranma could answer her. When she returned with the kettle in her hand, Ranma was introducing herself to Dr. Tofu.

"Ranma, here's the hot water," she said, passing the kettle to the short girl. "Good morning Doctor," she greeted cheerfully. Akane had almost expected her feelings for Dr. Tofu to return along with her hair. She was a little relieved to know that any feelings she had had for him stayed in the past, even when the past was the present.

"Good morning to you," Dr. Tofu returned her greeting. "You haven't been by recently. No new injuries?"

Akane blushed a little at this. 'Ranma always used to tease me about my tomboy ways, at least Dr. Tofu was nice about it.' "No sir. I haven't really been doing anything to acquire new ones."

"Good to hear," he said cheerfully. Akane exchanged some more pleasantries with Dr. Tofu before she excused herself and Ranma. Akane knew that they would have to jog a little so they wouldn't be late.

"Who was that guy?"

"Dr. Tofu, the chiropractor," Akane replied, "Ever since I was little, he's taken care of all my injuries." She smiled a little at some of the more memorable injuries she had gotten over the years.

"You like him," Ranma accused. Akane shot him an unbelieving look. 'Was Ranma jealous?'

"Are you jealous Ranma?" she teased, echoing her thoughts.

Ranma sputtered a little, turning a little red, "Why would I be jealous of a tomboy like you?"

They were about a block away from the school when they heard the shouting. "Today is the day that Akane Tendo will be mine!" "I shall defeat Akane Tendo!" "Be my girlfriend!" Akane was momentarily confused about what was going on, but then she remembered what school had been like before Ranma had come to Nerima. "Akane Tendo's here!" someone shouted right before the horde of horny high school boys charged.

'Stupid Kuno,' she thought darkly. Then she realized that it was just the thought she needed for a power boost, "Stupid Kuno!" she shouted as she hurtled herself towards her opponents, all eagerly waiting to beat the crap out of her so they could ask her out.

"Hold this," she shouted to Ranma, tossing her book bag to the boy. When the fights had first started, she had held her bag as she fought, because there was no one there to hold it. She had noticed that by doing so she was slightly unbalanced. If the enemies had been better at martial arts they would have used it to their advantage.

"Akane! Don't come any closer!" "They all want to defeat you!" "I won't let another guy beat you. I'll do it myself!" Akane was getting a little tired of everyone shouting at her. She had told them all many times that she wasn't going to date any of them like this, but they had never listened.

Akane weaved her way through her multiple opponents, kicking and punching all who came into her reach. 'I haven't felt this good in a while,' she mused as the number of standing opponents became less and less. 'I missed fighting like this. Not beating someone because they ticked me off, but having an actual battle.'

When the last boy fell, Akane stood panting slightly from the exertion. "That felt good," she said, smiling up at Ranma, who was perched on the fence railing, dutifully holding her book bag.

"Truly such a boorish lot," Kuno announced from his usual place behind a tree. "Evidently each of them intends to ask you out, Akane, on the dawn that he finally defeats you."

"Good morning Kuno sempai," Akane said in a bored tone of voice. Before he could continue his boring speech and make her late for class, Akane rushed him and planted her foot on his face as she made her way into the building. "Common Ranma, we don't want to be late," she called over her shoulder. Dutifully Ranma hopped off the fence and followed.

They made it to class and took their seats, then Ranma handed Akane her book bag. Akane set out her supplies for the first class and turned to talk with her friend, who was giving her a weird look.

"Morning Akane," Sayuri greeted her, "Who's the stud?"

"Huh?"

"The new guy. You two seem pretty friendly. Is he your boyfriend?" she whispered mischievously.

"What?!" Akane shrieked. "Ranma is _not_ my boyfriend!"

"Ranma huh?" another girl giggled. "Does that mean he's single?"

"Not really," Akane answered cautiously. This kind of talk always made her feel uncomfortable. She and Ranma were definitely not dating, but she didn't want to consider him dating anyone else. Akane saw the teacher come into the room, saving her from having to answer any embarrassing questions.

"Good morning class," the teacher said, "I see we have a new student. Come forward and introduce yourself."

Ranma stood in front of the class and bowed respectfully. "My name is Ranma Saotome. I am heir to the Saotome school of indiscriminate grappling. I've recently returned to Japan from a training trip to China."

"Thank you very much Mr. Saotome. Please take the seat next to Miss Tendo," the teacher said, indicating the spot that Ranma's bag was at. 'How did Ranma know where to sit?' Akane asked herself, watching Ranma return to his seat suspiciously.

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Ranma didn't remember his first first day of school being so boring or so long. He tried to pay attention to what the teacher was saying, hoping that the second time around would make the lecture make more sense. It turned out that it just made it more difficult to pay attention to. His mind started to wander as the ticks of the clock seemed to slow down.

Ranma's eyes passed over Ukyo's empty seat. 'What am I going to do about her?' he wondered idly. 'If she beats me in the fight, she'll keep her honor. But then I lose and will probably have to eat Akane's cooking or pay for all the okonomiyaki.'

He must have made some noise, because he felt a light tap on his arm. He looked up to see Akane glaring at him and making a shushing movement. Ranma decided to be mature about the reprimand by rolling his eyes and sticking out his tongue at her. Akane glared at him even harder then stuck her tongue out at him. Simultaneously they started giggling. Ranma thought that they were being quiet, but apparently they weren't, because the teacher sent them out into the hall.

Ranma stared at the ceiling in the hall, thinking back at the fight he had just witnessed. This was one of the first times he'd gotten to see just how good Akane was at martial arts. The first time he had seen her take on half of the school he hadn't really been paying attention. What he had seen was an efficient use of motion against multiple opponents. He'd also seen that she was a little unbalanced, but none of her opponents were skilled enough to notice, let alone use it to their advantage.

This morning however, Akane had lost the imbalance. 'Her dad probably didn't get around to teaching her how to fight with non-weapons in her hand,' he thought, remembering the lack of book bag during the fight today.

"So, this morning..." Ranma said, not looking at Akane, "What was it about?"

"Kuno told them, 'If you wish to take Akane out, defeat her! I will permit no other terms!'" Akane explained. As she spoke Ranma pictured Kuno standing in front of a crowd of high school boys, hand clutching the hilt of his bokken.

"So, that happens everyday?" Ranma mused, looking at the ceiling. He definitely couldn't say this while looking at her, "You're pretty good at fighting lots of enemies."

There was a startled pause and Ranma could feel her stare. Eventually the strength dimmed a little, and he could practically hear the blood rush to Akane's cheeks. "Than-"

"You aren't that good at individual fights though," Ranma rushed to say before Akane thought that he liked her or something. 'If she knew how I felt, she would laugh at me.'

Ranma expected her to explode at him. He expected her to threaten him or splash him or beat him. What he didn't expect was the silence that followed his remark. Gingerly he glanced over at Akane and saw her staring at the ground.

"You're not that bad," Ranma spluttered, knowing he had hurt her feeling, which was worse then making her mad. "You just need to work on your speed and balance. Also your control, temper, and attitude."

"What's wrong with my attitude?" Akane spat, glaring at him.

"Nothing that a lobotomy couldn't fix," Ranma chuckled at his cleverness. Akane's glare intensified and her breathing deepened.

"You're an idiot," she muttered. Ranma assumed that she was talking to him, and would have given as good as he got, but Akane continued, "You're right though."

"Huh?" Ranma wasn't sure he had ever heard Akane admit that he was right before, at least in a non-sarcastic way.

"I'm not as good at fighting individuals as I am at fighting a group. I have pretty good balance, when I concentrate, but it's not really second nature to me like it is for others. I know I'm slow, but I've always made up for it by being really strong, so that when a hit gets in it does the most damage possible. I'm working on it, but it doesn't seem to help anything..." Akane trailed of suddenly, which was the only warning Ranma had that they were no longer alone.

"Where is the coward known as Ranma Saotome?" Kuno shouted pompously.

"What's this about Kuno sempai?" Akane asked tiredly. Kuno's attention turned to her, and he made as though to hug her. Akane's fist shot out and connected with his chin before he could.

"Oh, beauteous Akane," Kuno declared around her fist, "Please tell me that it isn't true?"

"What isn't true?"

"Why, the vile rumors that you are engaged to a coward know as Ranma Saotome," Kuno stated. Predictably the windows to the classroom were flung open and the entire class hung out of the windows and into the hallway.

"What?! Engaged?!" some boys shouted. "How could you Akane! And you said you _despised _men!" a girl demanded.

Ranma was wondering what it was that he should do. A part of him demanded that he deny the engagement because if he didn't Akane would get mad at him. The other part of him demanded that he acknowledge the engagement because if he didn't Akane would get mad. Either way he would have to deal with an angry Akane.

"Ranma's not a coward," Akane told Kuno coldly. "And who I'm engaged to is none of your business." Ranma's eyes nearly popped out of his head when Akane didn't deny their engagement. 'Who is this and what did she do with my fiancé?' Ranma decided to file that last thought away for when he was really bored and had more time to explore it.

"This man stands between you and your love for me," Kuno declared dramatically. "Come forward Ranma Saotome so that I might smite you!"

"I'm Ranma Saotome," Ranma said stepping forward slightly, casually holding his water bucket. "I accept your challenge. Name the time and place."

"The place here, the time now!" Kuno shouted, thrusting his bokken forward. Ranma dodged easily and started maneuvering away from the crowd, so no one else could get hurt.

"Mr. Kuno," the teacher from inside the classroom questioned "Why are you not in your class?"

Kuno froze, then instantly changed into his school uniform. "Forgive me sensei, I was but trying to teach this cur a lesson."

"You are not a teacher Mr. Kuno," the teacher answered dispassionately. "Return the your class and leave my students be."

Kuno glowered at the teacher, then spun dramatically, pointing his bokken towards Ranma. "You have staved of defeat for now. Meet me after school in the soccer field. There you shall meet your end."

Eventually everyone returned to their lesson and Ranma and Akane returned to holding buckets in the hall.

"Who was that teacher and why didn't he show up before?"

"What do you mean before?" Akane asked innocently.

"Huh?"

"You asked where the teacher was before. What did you mean by that?"

"Uh... I meant that he could have stepped in sooner?" Ranma asked, hoping that she wouldn't catch on to the fact that he was nervous. 'All though this is the girl who didn't know that P-chan and Ryouga are one and the same.'

"Hmmm," Akane said, looking at him from the corner of her eye. Ranma grinned nervously at her, hoping that she would let the subject drop. 'If I told her that I had already lived through this day almost two years ago, she would think I'm crazy. Heck, maybe I am crazy and all the head injuries I've received have started affecting me.' "I guess," Akane said after a while, shrugging.

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Akane was wary of all the behavior changes in Ranma. He complemented her, walked on the ground, and didn't jump out of a third story window into the swimming pool. Ranma was acting very different;y then she remembered, and it was beginning to worry her.

'Who is he and what has he done with my fiancée?' she demanded internally.


	5. Chapter 5

Akane stood on the edge of the soccer field, watching as Ranma and Kuno squared off. Ranma looked confident and relaxed as he assumed a loose stance. Kuno looked serious as he gripped his bokken. There was a hush over the crowd as Kuno started one of his long winded speeches.

"I see that you had the courage to face me on the field of battle Saotome," he started, "For that I commend you. But, you shall soon fall to my might and the beauteous Akane Tendo shall be mine!" Kuno charged forward before Ranma could say anything more. "I strike!" he shouted before he followed suit. Ranma dodged for several strikes before he went on the offensive.

Ranma leaped into the air to dodge, sticking his fingers out, aiming for Kuno's forehead. Just as he had done the first time Kuno and Ranma fought. Kuno's strike hit Ranma at the crux of his neck and shoulder. The two stared at each other as they made contact, then snapped away.

"That blow didn't hurt at all," scoffed Kuno. "How can you expect to defeat me with such a flimsy attack?" Akane could see Kuno's forehead begin to pinken where Ranma had struck

"You call that a hit? Are you using a bokken or a wet noodle?" Ranma taunted, before charging forward. Kuno was prepared for this, because he started to position his bokken up to his shoulder. Before he could take a step forward Ranma was just there in his face. Then Kuno was flying backward several feet.

Somehow Kuno managed to stay on his feet. Without moving from his spot he shot the bokken forward, sending a gust of compressed air towards Ranma. Ranma dodged, then turned to watch the damage done by the attack. They netting on the goal at the end of the field was ripped to shreds and the metal was crushed and warped. Akane noticed that there was a tear in his shirt, but couldn't tell if there was a wound.

Ranma turned back to Kuno, looking serious. He charged forward, causing Kuno to dodge wildly. Ranma swiped wildly at something that fluttered out of Kuno's shirt. If Akane remembered correctly it was a picture of her practicing in the dojo. But hadn't that fight been a few days later, after Kuno confessed his love to Ranma?

"Eyes up front Baka!" Akane shouted as she saw Kuno take advantage of Ranma's distraction. Kuno charged forward and swung. Ranma dropped to the ground and kicked up in a smooth motion. Yet another move Akane had seen him use against Kuno.

Kuno fell backwards, still clutching his weapon above his head. Ranma stood and gently prodded Kuno with his foot. Kuno grunted, but that was it. The students came swarming onto the field. When Akane got her first glimpse of Kuno she wasn't surprised to see the multiple foot shaped bruises adorning his neck and face. There was also footprints decorating Kuno's torso over the clothes.

"Ranma won," several people murmured, "What happened?"

"A kick in each vital place on his body," Akane murmured, as though in aw. She was a little, but when you saw it done once it wasn't as impressive the second time. Akane started laughing when she read the bruise on Kuno's forehead.

The last time Ranma had poked Kuno like that Nabiki told her that the bruise was shaped like the word "baka." This time the bruise looked like the words "super baka." She turned to Ranma, who was perched on top of a nearby fence. Akane made her way over to him and smiled.

"Did Kuno get you?" she asked pointing at the tear in his shirt.

"As if," Ranma scoffed, hopping off the fence. Akane poked the tear gently, smiling anew when he didn't even flinch.

"Ready to go home?" she asked, starting off before he could answer her. Vaguely she heard him mutter something, which she decided to ignore. Then she changed her mind and decided to interpret his mutterings as a compliment. Today had been a good day at school.

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Ranma followed Akane home, watching her carefully. Something was off about Akane, but he couldn't place it. She wasn't curious about what had distracted him from the fight, she didn't congratulate him or yell at him for showing off. All she had done was act like getting into a fight was an everyday occurance.

When he had first met her, she had freaked out whenever something like this happened. It wasn't until some time after Ucchan arrived that she had begun accepting his battles as the norm.

"Hey Akane," he started carefully. "What are your plans for the afternoon?"

Akane raised her eyebrows in surprise at the question. "Well... I was going to finish my homework then practice a little in the dojo. I think Nabiki is going to want to talk with me about this afternoon too... Why?"

"No reason," he shrugged, "Maybe I'll join you for sparring in the dojo..."

Akane froze mid step. Staring at him as though he had grown a third head. All the scrutiny was beginning to make him a little nervous.

"What?" he snapped at her. She shook her head an turned around.

"Nothing," he heard her mutter clearly, then she added probably to herslef, "... just ... you are...what you... my fiancee..." Ranma was still trying to put together what she had said when they reached the Tendo residence.

"We're home," Akane called into the house as she removed her shoes. Ranma removed his shoes and followed her into the kitchen. Idly Akane chatted with Kasumi as she foraged through the refrigerator. She emerged with a bottle of orange juice, before heading to the cupboard where Ranma knew the glasses were kept.

"Want some Ranma?" she asked, shaking the bottle slightly. Ranma nodded, watching carefully as she poured the drinks. You could never be too careful when Akane got near the kitchen.

She smiled at him as she put the orange juice away, and took a bag of crackers off the shelf. Akane squeezed past him in the doorway, juice in one hand crackers in the other as she made her way to her bedroom for homework. Ranma had the sudden urge to call her back, but he couldn't think of a reason. All he knew was that he needed to be around her.

There had been a nagging voice in the back of his head ever since he saw her for the first time again. Every time he tried to listen to it, it became all jumbled and he was unable to understand the message. He suspected that it had something to do with why he was here, and not in the future/present... Ranma still wasn't sure what to refer to the next two years as.

For a while Ranma tried to distract himself by practicing in the dojo. The urge just became more insistent. Eventually Ranma decided that he should listen to the urge. Slowly he made his way to Akane's door. He stood outside of it, unsure of what to do. He had never realized how sinister the friendly duck name plate on Akane's door could look.

Taking a deep breath Ranma raised his hand to knock. The door suddenly opened, reveal a very amused looking Nabiki. She glanced side long at Ranma as she passed, never saying anything. Ranma knew that this was probably a bad thing.

His suspicions were confirmed when he peaked into the room. Akane was staring at the desk where her homework lay, looking very crumpled.

"You can come in Ranma," she said, never looking up from the desk.

"Something buggin' you?" Ranma asked as he sauntered in.

"Just Nabiki being Nabiki," she said tiredly. "Hey, have you seen P-chan around?"

"Bacon-breath?" Ranma asked before her question fully processed in his mind. "Haven't seen him for a couple of weeks."

"So, you know P-chan?" Akane asked innocently. Too innocently... 'Wait a second... Ryouga hasn't shown up yet! There shouldn't be a P-chan!'

"How do you know P-chan?" Ranma asked suspiciously, watching her closely for reaction.

"The same way you know do. He's supposed to arrive in about a week."

"Th-then why'd you ask me if I knew him?" Ranma asked warily.

"Becuase you've been acting different from the way I remember," she answered honestly. "In case you haven't caught up, I'm telling you that I've already gone through this before. Also, that I think you have too."

"Why... wha... I mean come on...huh?" Ranma finally got out, completely surprised at where the conversation had gone. 'It kind of makes sense,' he thought to himself as he tried to gather his wits.

"Oh, come on!" Akane spat, "Weird stuff happens all the time to us and you just accept it as normal, but this is too strange to believe?"

"Yeah, but not like this," Ranma tried to defend himself.

"So, you are from the future," Akane sighed in what sounded like relief. "Now what?"

"What do you mean?" Ranma asked carefully.

"Well, what do we do now that we know what's going to happen?"

"Huh?"

Akane took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She looked like she was struggling with something. "Ranma, did you really like the way things were...er... are going to be...huh?"

"Not really," Ranma answered.

"Then let's change it. There might not be anything we can do with Kuno, but we can definitely keep Kodachi out of our lives," Akane said excitedly, her eyes sparkling. Then they dimmed a little, "Unless, you want her..."

"No!" Ranma shouted. All the times he'd been poisoned and electrocuted flashing through his mind, and that was just when she came a courtin'. When Kodachi saw his girl side she was vicious. Not having to worry about Kodachi showing up would be great. "Are you kidding? She's psycho! That's like asking if you want Kuno!"

"Ew," Akane grimaced.

"Good. We'll see what we can do about Kuno too, maybe we can trick him into not being in love with us," Ranma muttered.

"He isn't in love with us," Akane snorted. "Just me. He hasn't gotten to meet his 'Tree-borne Kettle Girl' yet."

"Thank god," Ranma sighed, "All he wants to do his kill me, not kiss me."

"Lucky," Akane sighed. Ranma laughed at her expression. Akane glared at him before sticking her tongue out at him.

"So, what do we do about Kodachi?" Ranma asked in all seriousness. He really didn't feel like dealing with her again. Ever.

"Easy. You don't try to pick her up after she tries to kill me," Akane stated, glaring at him.

"Hey, she was falling out of the sky. I wasn't trying to get a date!" Ranma tried to defend himself.

"Which is why I caught her crawling all over you on the roof," Akane snorted turning away.

"That was the paralysis gas she used!" Ranma practically shouted.

"And I suppose it's paralysis gas when Shampoo is crawling all over you too!" Akane snapped.

'She's jealous!' Ranma thought. He started to cackle. "You're jealous of stuff that hasn't even happened yet!" he accused her.

"Obviously it happened or I wouldn't remember it!" Akane yelled. Vaguely Ranma noticed that she hadn't denied being jealous. 'That's a first,' he reminded himself.

"Well it ain't going to happen this time!" Ranma yelled. In slow motion he saw Akane's eyes widen and a blush begin to form on her cheeks. He felt a familiar tingle running up and down his spine. Anytime they were about to have a moment he felt this way. 'C-cute...' his mind scrambled.

"D-do you really mean that Ranma?" Akane asked quietly, leaning in slightly.

"Y-yeah," Ranma mumbled, scratching at the back of his head. There was a tangible feeling of relaxing in the room as Akane let out a breath that he hadn't been aware she was holding.

"Good," Akane said, giving him a dazzling smile. "So lets figure out what to do with Kodachi."

"Wait," Ranma said. 'Now I can do something about Ryouga without breaking my promise.' "First, could you do me a favor?" Ranma asked worriedly. "Could _you_ give P-Chan a bath when he shows up?"

"Huh? Why?" Akane asked.

"Well... he tried to bite my nipple off, the first time I tried to bathe him." Ranma lied blatantly and badly, but Akane was usually really trusting about things like that.

"Hmph," Akane snorted, "You probably deserved it for picking on him. Okay, I'll save your precious nipples. Now, what do we do about Kodachi?"

They spent the rest of the evening planning ways to avoid having both the Kuno children fall in love with Ranma. Basically Ranma wouldn't fight Kuno as a girl or save Kodachi as a boy. They tried to think of ways to get rid of Kuno, but decided that all the options were more work then just punting him every morning.

All in all it was a productive day, although it wasn't until much later that Ranma remembered that they hadn't done their homework yet. 'Oh well. It won't be the first time that's happened,' he shrugged.


End file.
